Current Job Title and Description: President and Founder of Demand Trans.

Information technology and transportation professional with extensive entrepreneurial, project management, research and consulting experience. Former tenured university professor with over 20 years of IT consulting firm management experience and over 35 years of project management experience. Competencies in scheduling systems, software application design, systems analysis, and analytic methodologies. Expertise in transportation systems and policy analysis. Demonstrated ability to bring ventures to successful conclusions.

Overview of Professional Background:

EDUCATION:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bachelor of Science, Civil Engineering University of California, Berkeley, Master of Science, Civil Engineering
Tufts University, Ph.D., Political Science
MAJOR PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES/ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
DemandTrans Solutions Inc./TWJ Consulting LLC (1994-present)
Founder and president of software development and information technology consulting firm that specializes in application development for scheduling, operations planning, Web-based data collection/analysis, and resource optimization. Personally directed and made technical contributions to the following major projects:
– Demand Responsive Transit Operations Improvement Tools (2009 to present) 
Designed and developed resource scheduling tools based upon optimization and analytic technologies that have resulted in products for optimized vehicle deployment scheduling (OptiRun) and automated scheduling of passenger trips (MobilityDR) for DRT operations.
– Regional Transportation District of Denver (2007-present)
Developed, implemented, and continue to evolve a technology system using tablet computers, mobile application, automated scheduling and web-based booking application that provides an operations solution for the agency’s 22 general public demand responsive transit services.
– Scheduling Systems for Teleconferencing Companies (MCI, InterCall, PGi, British Telecom, 1995-2009)
Provided intellectual leadership and project direction for 4 discrete projects that provided these major companies in the global teleconferencing industry with comprehensive resource scheduling systems encompassing equipment and labor. BT and PGi continue to use system.
– com (1999-2001)

Current Job Title and Description: Senior Engineer, Smart City Services: Charlotte contributes to the MobilityDR and OptiRun platforms, integrating state-of-the-art travel demand modeling and service planning algorithms to design services that improve the user experience and operating efficiency. She develops and tests models and algorithms for improved vehicle routing and passenger behavioral modeling.

Overview of Professional Background:  MS/PhD, Transportation Systems Analysis and Planning, Northwestern University BS, Civil Engineering, University of Texas at Austin

Registrations:
Engineer-in-Training, Texas
Professional Affiliations:
Transportation Research Board:
– Urban Data and Information Systems Committee (ABJ30)
– Paratransit Committee (AP060)
– Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS)
Selected Relevant Papers and Presentations:
“Flexing Service Schedules: Assessing the Potential for Demand Adaptive Hybrid Transit via a Stated Preference Approach,” Transportation Research Part C, 2017
“Stretching Resources: Sensitivity of Optimal Bus Frequency Allocation to Stop-Level Demand Elasticities,” Public Transport 5(1),
Specific professional experience that may be pertinent to Nashville & this RFP:
Chicago Transit Authority (rail and bus)
– Built simulation to assess existing and potential capacity of rail junctions in the Chicago central business district. Simulation included adjustment functions to test operational sensitivity to dwell time, speed and signal block changes.
– Developed alternate operating patterns in order to analyze capacity and delay improvements due to changes in patterns.
– Synthesizing interview results and field observations to identify critical problem areas.

Professor Nigel Wilson, director of the MIT Transit Research Program, has more than 30 years experience dealing with operations, management and planning issues associated with transit systems worldwide. His research and teaching focus on urban public transportation, including topics related to the operation, analysis, planning and management of transit systems. Specific research activities he has directed include using automated data systems to improve planning and operations, workforce planning in the transit industry, short-range transit planning methods, the role of private operators in public transportation and the potential for computers and communication systems to improve the performance of transit systems. During two leaves from MIT, he worked directly in three large transit agencies, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (1985-86), London Transport (1992-93) and Metro Transit (2008-2009) and has also consulted to a number of other North American transit authorities. Additional information about Professor Wilson can be found on MIT’s Civil and Environmental Engineering website.

John has over 30 years’ experience in Software Development and management of advanced technical teams across a range of companies including Apple, Motorola and GlobeTech. He has a proven-track record delivering customer-centric solutions utilising clever technology whilst hiding the same technology from the end-users. Within DemandTrans, John is leading the team working on the MVP suite, which is a crucial corner-stone in the DemandTrans offering. Outside of DemandTrans John is responsible for driving the development of an Events Operations suite of products called ActiveConnex. This has been used in many large outdoor events including NCAA Final Four, Glastonbury, Tour de France and many others.

During his time in Apple, he started an R&D team initially doing software testing on Macintosh software, and TV-related hardware design for the European market. This rapidly grew to over 200 people and was amalgamated into the US R&D structure, and then developed many software and hardware products for the European market. A key development was early prototyping of Digital Video in partnership with BSkyB and BBC.

Niels Tvilling Larsen is a world-renowned expert in the development and management of flexible transit. As the chief architect behind the word’s first large-scale national flexible transit platform, FlexDenmark, he has developed a system that reliable delivers over 20,000 rides a day utilizing over 500 different service providers to a nation of over 5,000,000 people.

A transport and policy specialist that has worked for decades in creating innovative and fully integrated transport solutions that accommodate both non-dedicated vehicles for paratransit and DRT in lower density areas as well as public transit assets for high density routes. Niels Tvilling Larsen possesses advanced degrees in Structureeconomic and Politics as well as a Master of Information Technology and Industrial IT, both from Aalborg University.

Current Job Title and Description: SENIOR CONSULTANT, DEMANDTRANS SOLUTIONS (TWJ CONSULTING), 2000-2017

Senior level application architect and developer with over 19 years of experience with mobile, desktop and web applications utilizing MVC Frameworks, constraint programming, relational databases, open source technologies, and Microsoft .NET

Overview of Professional Experience:

KnowDelay.Com 2012-present
Designed and developed a mobile responsive HTML5 website used to help travelers predict airport delays up to five days in advance. Proprietary weather data is scored using a set of predefined airport specific rules to determine future airport performance.
– Implemented using HTML5 templates, Spring MVC, a Spring Service layer, Hibernate, and an Oracle Database.
– Weather data is scored using the Drools rule engine

Denver Regional Transportation District 2007-present               
Designed and developed a mobile tablet Windows based scheduling application for the Regional Transportation District in Denver, CO. Client required a mobile application that enables drivers of the RTD’s demand responsive Call-N-Ride services to handle the booking and scheduling of passenger trips using a wireless mobile computing device. Mobile application also facilitates the boarding of passengers. Includes a web-based reservation system to allow customers to book their own trips.
– Implemented using SQL Server 2005/2008 R2 on the backend server and SQL Server Compact Edition on each of the clients. Replication between the client and server occurs as a background process as needed by the clients
– Developed scheduling algorithm in C# and resides on both the client computers and the main server
– Utilizes real-time on-board GPS data to report current vehicle location and estimated arrival time
– Developed Google Maps based interface to view current driver manifests and audit driver’s routes

Current Job Title and Description: Senior Application Designer/Developer, Business Analyst

Mr. Hardt has 18 years of experience in information technology and specializes in application development as well as business and requirements analysis.
Mr. Hardt played a major role in the design and implementation of the Denver RTD’s Call-n-Ride application, as well as DemandTrans’s web survey products for the American Hospital Association. He has also developed major extensions for DemandTrans’s scheduling applications for the conferencing industry.
Before joining DemandTrans, Mr. Hardt worked for Accenture on large Oracle projects in the financial industry. Mr. Hardt’s technical expertise includes Java, Javascript, Oracle PL/SQL, C#, and ASP.Net, as well as Oracle and SQL Server database administration and data warehousing.
Mr. Hardt holds a B.S. from Northwestern University in Environmental Engineering and an M.S. from Stanford University in Civil/Environmental Engineering.

Current Job Title and Description: Transportation Systems Analyst Consultant to transit and planning agencies
Researcher on developing country transport
Visiting professor and guest lecturer

Overview of Professional Background:  Was visiting professor at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Aalto University in Espoo, Finland. Was adjunct faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and taught short courses at several universities around the world. He is the author of Better Public Transit Systems: Analyzing Investments and Performance, 2nd Ed, and co-author of Introduction to Sustainable Transportation. Was assistant director for advanced technologies and innovative practices at the National Transit Institute, responsible for development of continuing education courses, including about ITS. Was consultant or Team Leader in a variety of projects in several countries. He recently participated in a research project that first aimed to understand and now to find ways to improve informal public transport in the cities of sub-Saharan Africa together with the staff of The African Centre of Excellence for Studies in public and Non-motorized Transport (ACET) at the University of Cape Town. Eric has a BSME and MSME in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington and a PhD in Systems Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Joe Scavelli graduated with highest honors from Illinois State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Accounting. At the start of his career, Joe worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Chicago where he specialized in financial statement audits of multi-billion-dollar financial services clients. Joe later moved to Dallas where he worked as a financial analyst and account manager at a private lending company. There, he managed and helped grow a portfolio of small businesses with a combined value of over 12 million dollars. Outside of his professional life, Joe enjoys spending time with family and friends, practicing martial arts, and is an avid sports fan.

VETaxi Program Creator, Robert DeLucia Sr., a Vietnam veteran who served in the U.S. Army as an MP.  Robert has a long and successful track record in the transportation service industry. Starting his first business over 30 years ago in the Pittsburgh area and currently he is the founder of five companies – including VETaxi.

Robert dedicates much time and energy to veteran’s affairs and Operation Rising Star for the past 4 years.  Where he believes in Veteran opportunities in Transportation are key to quality service.

Mr. DeLucia is an innovator and Vetrepreneur, starting Star Transportation Group, which operates multiple transportation companies around the greater Pittsburgh area. Classy Cab,  is an upscale taxi service located in the greater Pennsylvania area; Cranberry Taxi located in Butler County; VETaxi (the only 100% wheelchair accessible, CNG and Veteran Operated service in the USA  which includes Tesla Electric Vehicles), operates in Greater Pittsburgh Area; AirStar which operates for ACCESS transportation in Pittsburgh and Star Limousines which operates throughout the Pittsburgh Area and multiple counties.

In 2010, Mr. DeLucia was nominated for “Veteran Entrepreneur of the Year” by the National Veteran-Owned Business Association (NaVOBA). His accomplishments working with veterans have been highlighted in Vetrepreneur Magazine. “By having a business, I challenge myself on a daily basis and I like to help motivate other Veterans to do their best and have a successful career.”

Madonna is a respected and established personality in the disability community who works with disability organizations, leaders and businesses around the United States. She has a Bachelors Degree in Homeland Security. She works for Pride Mobility Products as a Consumer Advocate as well as Star Transportation Group (VETaxi).

Madonna has extensive experience in advertising, media, public relations and public policy. She is CEO & President of Loops Media Group and Madonna Long Consulting LLC, which both companies specializing in the disability community and market.

Madonna is also the Founder of AccessMapping, a technology platform designed to aggregate business accessibility, working with businesses and leading disability groups around the country to help progress issues that affect people with disabilities. Madonna works with our nation’s leaders, Senators, Congressional Leaders and their staff in Washington DC as well as the Presidents administration on issues that concern People with Disabilities.

Madonna has worked on transportation issues concerning the needs of people with disabilities for over six years. She has helped communities in Washington DC, New York City and other cities across our nation find innovative ways to mitigate the shortage of accessible transportation options.

Sonal has twenty years of extensive and diverse experience in accounting & finance roles. Sonal began his career with PriceWaterhouseCoopers and then moved into the start-up world during the high-tech boom of the late 1990’s. Sonal has balanced and enhanced his entrepreneurial experience through internal audit roles with a Fortune 500 company (Macy’s) and both for profit and not for profit international organizations. While Sonal is a “numbers guy”, he has a strong interest in understanding operations and business strategy, allowing him to speak to the numbers in a non-technical way. The controller at a Fortune 500 company referred to him as an auditor that “understands” – a testament to his ability to think outside of the check boxes and apply intelligent reasoning to the “rules”.

Sonal was instrumental in maintaining financial stability and profitability as the head of accounting and finance for a highly successful restaurant group in the Washington D.C. metro area. He helped the business grow from annual revenues of $13M to $50M in his 4 years with the company.

Sonal received his Bachelor of Science from Tufts University and his MBA from Boston University. When he is not “crunching numbers” or studying leadership and business strategy, Sonal can often be found passionately cooking for his family and friends.

Perry Smith graduated from Lehigh University in 1987 with a BA in History and received an MA in Communications from New York University in 1992.

A lifelong entrepreneur and avid learner, Smith has created, operated and scaled a wide variety of successful hospitality and retail businesses including Polly Esther’s and Culture Club entertainment venues as well as multiple retail locations of the popular Right-On Futon in Chicago, IL. Most recently he founded, built and scaled the Matchbox Food Group which currently has 15 units in California, Maryland, Texas, Virginia, and Washington, DC. In 2016, Smith founded The Avalon Institute business consulting and advisory with USAF General John E. Michel (RET).

Dave has over two decades of experience advising startup and early growth stage entrepreneurs. He has advised real estate companies in the United States and in Central and Eastern Europe, international aircraft leasing companies, and internet and mobile app based consumer marketing companies. He also has experience in litigation, including being part of a legal team taking trials to verdict in aviation accident cases, and in advising a legal team on discovery in a multi-billion-dollar fraud claim arising out of the subprime mortgage crisis. Dave has a JD with a specialization in business law from the University of California Los Angeles, and an MBA with a concentration in finance and economics from the University of Chicago.